Resistance exerciser hand grip and cord anchoring device

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a new and improved hand grip, cord and cord anchoring device for a resistance exerciser. The device is designed to meet current trends requiring frequent cord installation, changing of cord position and cord removal from the exerciser. A combination of hardware that facilitates installation of the cords axially into full circumference holes the cord anchor plate and two counter-rotating cord keepers allow for easy cord changes with an emphasis on safety during use. The device accommodates use of a wide range of cord lengths and diameters as well as grouping assemblies for multiple cords in one handgrip assembly with individual RRESISTANCE keepers for each cord.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a new and novel hand grip and chord anchoring device for resistance exercise and fitness devices. In particular the device is grasped with one hand grip in each hand. Separating the hands stretches one or more elastic bands that are attached between the hand grips in the performance of a variety of body building and muscle toning exercises. The trend of change of exercise regimens is to exercise an increasing number of muscle groups using resistance exercisers. This trend increases the number of elastic cord changes in one exercise session resulting in a need for ease and safety of the changing of elastic cords.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Resistance exercise is the common term for strength-building exercises that depend on use of resistance to motion of the body promote muscle growth. As one of the more common forms of health and fitness exercise, this approach commonly makes use of some type of spring or elastic device that exerts resistance to being stretched, pulled, squeezed, or bent.

Resistance exercisers are often isotonic design. The term isotonic means that muscles of the body are moving against an artificial force, such as when attempting to stretch an elastic cord or band. Exercise of this type may also be considered isometric. The term isometric means that the muscles are being subjected to a force while not in motion. Both forms of resistance training can be used to strengthen and tone groups of muscles in the legs, arms, chest, shoulders, and back. The present invention is primarily used for isotonic exercise of the arms, back and shoulders by application of elastic devices that exert resistance to being stretched.

Elastic cords or bands connected between two handles have been used as resistance exercisers for over a century. Most recent development of resistance exercisers has been in the area of diversifying the muscle groups that can be strengthened without the need for going to the gym or use of expensive equipment. Effective muscle strengthening exercise requires starting with small levels of resistance to motion, then building the resistance gradually to a maximum level which is dependent on the strength and endurance of the user. This is followed by exercise with progressively decreased resistance to lessen the undesirable after effects of exercise.

Although the resistance or pull exerciser is very simple in construction there are several complications especially when using the same device for exercising diverse muscle groups. For instance muscles in the legs may be stronger than in the arms. Also, exercise regimens involving concurrent extending of two arms as opposed to regimens extending one leg introduces a difference in the length of motion of the exerciser.

The adjustments in degree of resistance can be altered either by using longer cords to extend the distance the cord can be extended or to increase the resistance at a given distance by using a cord of larger diameter or by concurrent use of multiple cords. Exercisers accommodating one, three and five cords are currently readily available in the market.

As an example a user of an exerciser with five cord mounting positions and five identical cords would start with one cord in the center position of the five mounting positions to experience the lowest resistance exerted in the center of the handgrip. The second resistance step requires two cords so the user moves the first cord from the center mounting position to a position next to the center mounting position and installs the second cord one position to the opposite side of the center position, thus maintaining a centered but doubled resistance. The third cord when installed would occupy the center mounting position. The fourth cord would require moving of the center cord a second time and five cords would occupy all five positions. In summary exercising with five cords requires five cord installations, five cord removals and four cords with changed positions to gradually increase and decrease the resistance while keeping the resistance centered with respect to the handgrip.

A second influence on resistance exerciser design is the increased public sensitivity to safety. Keepers that provide a means of lessening the chance of inadvertent cord release can also add steps to the task of installing, changing positions and removing cords. In addition it is desirable to use the force of the cords on the device to hold the cord keepers in position instead of adding springs and other gadgets to hold the keepers in position. The inventor intends to make improvements in resistance exerciser design that address the aforementioned shortcomings of the prior art and heretofore marketed devices to increase the ease of setup and safety of use in the design of the present invention.

Each one of the elastic cord changes is an opportunity for a user to partially seat the cord in the anchor plate resulting in a cord snapping loose during the exercise. The instant invention reduces the possibility of a cord snapping loose during exercise by installing of cords axially through the anchor plate and with cord keepers that are either completely open or completely closed with the force of the cord stretching assisting in keeping the keeper closed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention solves the shortcomings of the prior art by applying a new and unique configuration of a hand grip for a resistance exercising device. The components of the invention include a handle, an anchor plate, one or more elastic cords with enlarged ends, a round hole with a uninterrupted circumference in the anchor plate sized for free passage of the enlarged ends. The elastic cords and corresponding enlarged ends will pass freely in an axial direction into and out of the round hole in the anchor plate. This is a feature so that an attempt to exercise with the cord keeper open will result in the cord falling harmlessly to the ground rather than snapping loose during the exercise.

In addition there is included a first cord keeper and a second cord keeper that are moveable between an open position and a closed position. In the open position, the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper allow the enlarged ends of the one or more elastic cords to move freely towards and away from the anchor plate. In the closed position the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper prevent the enlarged ends of the one or more elastic cords to move freely towards and away from the anchor plate.

The first cord keeper and the second cord keeper each rotate about a pivot between the open position and the closed position and are held in the closed position by snap latches. An important feature of the design is that the direction of the force exerted by the one or more elastic cords on both the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper during exercise is in the same direction as motion of the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper into the closed position.

Other salient features of the present invention are that a cavity is formed between the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper when the keepers are in the closed position. Also, the cavity approximates the shape of the enlarged ends of the elastic cords.

The instant invention is completed by addition of two slots that are machined through the anchor plate, a handle strap, and a hollow handle. The anchor plate and the hollow handle are mutually attached by the handle strap passing through the two slots of the anchor plate and the hollow of the handle;

The primary objective of the present invention is to insert the elastic cord axially through the anchor plate and have only two modes of elastic cord gripping during exercise:

-   -   1. The cords are firmly gripped with keepers where the force of         the cords during exercise tightens the grip of the keepers         holding the cords in place;     -   2. The cord is totally not gripped, will not get hung up in a         lateral slot and will fall to the floor presenting no harm if         the keepers are not properly placed in the closed position prior         to exercise;

Other objectives include: ease of installing, changing and removing elastic cords from the device;

Additionally, rugged construction that will withstand abuse during exercises in the gym and during storage and transportation in the gym bag;

Also, manufacturing cost, weight and storage space are design objectives.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the anchor plate and elastic cord assemblies with the cord keepers in the open position;

FIG. 2 is a cutaway frontal view of the anchor plate and elastic cord assemblies with the cord keepers in the closed position;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the resistance exerciser ready for use in a resistance exercise regimen.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows the anchor plate assembly 10 and the elastic cord assembly 20 of the present invention. The anchor plate assembly 10 is made up of the anchor plate 11 which has a through opening 12 for through passage of the elastic cord assembly 20 the attachment of which will be further described in the paragraph addressing the features of FIG. 2. The anchor plate 11 also incorporates two slots 13 for attachment of the handle assembly 40 which will be explained in the paragraph addressing features of FIG. 3.

FIG. 1 further shows two pivots 14 that in the preferred embodiment are pins extending from one side of the “U” shaped anchor plate 11 to the other side of the anchor plate 11. A first cord keeper 15 is rotatibly connected to the anchor plate 11 via one of the two pivots 14 and a second cord keeper 16 is similarly rotatibly connected to the anchor plate 11 via the other of the two pivots 14. The first cord keeper 15 and the second cord keeper 16 are shown in the open position where the elastic cords will pass freely in an axial direction in and out of the hole 12 in the anchor plate 11. The first cord keeper 15 and the second cord keeper 16 also have snap latches 24 and snap catches 25 that will be explained later. The elastic cord assembly 20 includes an elastic cord 21 and an enlarged end 22 at each end of the cords 21. Cords for different exercise regimens can be of different lengths and different diameters to change the resistance of the cord or the separation of the handles when a given resistance is experienced. Handles accommodating multiple cords to provide more variability in resistance are also within the spirit of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the anchor plate assembly 10 and the elastic band assembly 20 assembled with the first keeper 15 and the second keeper 16 in the closed position in cross-section from the perspective indicated by the arrows “A-A” shown in FIG. 3. Here, the hole 12 in anchor plate 11 is readily seen. The elastic cord assembly was inserted axially from the bottom of anchor plate 11 into the position shown. Then first cord keeper 15 and second cord keeper 16 were rotated about pivots 14 into the closed positions shown. In this position the snap latches 24 and snap catches 25 shown in FIG. 1 engage each other thereby holding the first cord keeper 15 and the second cord keeper 16 in the closed position shown. In the closed position a cavity 26 is formed between the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper. In the preferred embodiment the shape of the cavity 26 approximates the shape of the enlarged end 22 of the largest diameter elastic cord assembly 20 so that cords of all diameters are accommodated. Directing ones attention to the area where the lower surface of the enlarged end 22 of the elastic cord assembly 20 touches the lower surface of the first cord keeper 15 it can be seen that this surface lies to the right of the pivot 14 that passes through the first cord keeper. When the elastic cord assembly 20 is pulled downward during exercise a downward force is transmitted from the surface of the enlarged end 22 to the lower edge of the first cord keeper 15 which force tends to rotate the first cord keeper in a clockwise direction around pivot 14. The clockwise force would cause the first cord keeper to rotate clockwise which is the direction of motion of the first cord keeper when it is being moved to the closed position. A similar analysis will show that the second cord keeper is pushed in a counterclockwise direction by the force of the enlarged end 22 which is also towards the closed position.

FIG. 3 shows the anchor plate assembly 10, the elastic cord assembly 20 and the handle assembly 40 assembled to make a resistance exerciser 1. The handle assembly 40 is made up of a hollow handle 41, a strap 42 and a loop 43 at each end of the strap 42 that is in turn connected to the slots 13 in the anchor plate assembly 11. 

I claim:
 1. A hand grip for a resistance exercising device, comprising: a handgrip assembly; an anchor plate; one or more elastic cords with enlarged ends; one or more holes with round uninterrupted circumference through the anchor plate sized for free passage of the enlarged ends; wherein the one or more elastic cords and corresponding enlarged ends will pass freely in an axial direction into and out of the round hole in the anchor plate; a first cord keeper; a second cord keeper; wherein the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper are moveable between an open position and a closed position; wherein the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper in the open position allow the enlarged ends of the one or more elastic cords to move freely towards, through and away from the one or more holes in the anchor plate; wherein the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper in the closed position prevent the enlarged ends of the one or more elastic cords to move freely towards and away from the anchor plate.
 2. The hand grip of claim 1, wherein: the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper each rotate about a pivot when being moved from the open position to the closed position.
 3. The hand grip of claim 1, wherein: the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper are held in the closed position by one or more snap latches.
 4. The hand grip of claim 1, wherein: the direction of the force exerted by the one or more elastic cords on both the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper during exercise is in the direction of motion of the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper into the closed position.
 5. The hand grip of claim 1, wherein: the first cord keeper and second cord keeper both in the open position present no impediment to axial motion of the one or more elastic cords.
 6. The hand grip of claim 1, further comprising: a cavity formed between the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper.
 7. The hand grip of claim 6, wherein: wherein the cavity approximates the shape of the enlarged ends.
 8. The hand grip of claim 1, wherein: wherein the first cord keeper and the second cord keeper are identical.
 9. The hand grip of claim 1, wherein: the hand grip assembly is comprised of: a handle strap; a hollow handle.
 10. The hand grip of claim 1, further comprising: two through slots in the anchor plate.
 11. The hand grip of claim 10, wherein: the anchor plate and the hollow handle are mutually attached by the handle strap passing through the two slots of the anchor plate and the hollow of the handle. 